Saturday, November 24, 2012

So many people say that the hardest part of losing someone is forcing yourself to get out of bed each and every morning. However, for me, that is the easy part. For me, the hard part comes at the end of each and every day. You fight through so many challenges throughout the day as you shed sweat, blood, and tears. You laugh, you cry, you do what you have to do to fit a smile in here and there. Then, the end of the day comes and you look back on everything you’ve done throughout the day, good or bad, easy or difficult, and time and time again you’re forced to realize one thing...

No matter what decisions you make

No matter how hard you push yourself

No matter what you do with your life

He isn’t coming back

You then close your eyes and, once again, cry yourself to sleep because sleeping is the only way to get through the darkness that comes with the night. You cry, because you cannot follow. You cry, because you still have to wake up the next day and fight through it and do everything you’ve always done to make him proud, but now you have to go to bed with the same dark realization as each night previous since you've lost him...

Loss and sorrow are a cold, dark, and miserable place and I wouldn’t wish them on anyone. Some days are easier to smile than others. I have amazing friends who support me and make it easier. However, at the end of the day - no matter how much support, or laughter, or mini victories you have - it always ends with the same damn reality running through your head:

Monday, August 20, 2012

A million calming emotions can be expressed through a smile. Every day I
smile for those around me. I smile for my patients, my friends, my
family, myself... I've buried the dark clouds within me so deeply that
when they finally surface they are a raging storm. I wish there was
some way I could convey to those who don't understand what it's like to
lose the single person you are most close to. Every time you go out and
search in the world for someone or multiple someone else to take care
of you like the one you lost did you come up disappointed and empty
handed. I wish I could describe to the world the pain that occurs when
you re-realize that they're gone.

I could be having a really
amazing day - happy as can be without a care in the world. Then, out of
no where, some random event triggers a memory... the event could be
happy or sad - and not everything directly related to Ian brings it
up... shoot-- I could talk about him for hours and be fine! However,
for some reason, random unexpected things strike me at just the right
angle and my mind and heart remind me over and over again that he's
gone.

He's GONE

I cannot emphasize those words
enough. They are the words that strike the deepest and hurt the most.
Yes, it's a reminder, but it's more than that.. I have no idea how to
describe it- I really don't. It's like the words bring with them a
hurricane all on their own. I'm swept away in the realization of the
truth of these words. Every time, without fail, no matter how much time
has passed, it all feels fresh once again. In my mind and in my heart
it is as if I just learned my brother has died and I'm having to deal
with it all over again. In my mind and my heart, my brother died today -
that really is how it felt. I know he died over a year ago and today
isn't even a monthly anniversary, but my entire being feels the
freshness of the pain just as strongly as it did the first day, if not
stronger. Each day I realize I have to keep going on without him is not
another battle, but another war in and of itself. I really do not know
how to do this life without him. As people in my life let me down left
and right it's another painful reminder of the ever strong support I
had with Ian. People will say that he is still there supporting me in
my heart, but, dammit people - it's not the same! I'm sick of people
trying to make me feel better - I know y'all have good intentions, but
it doesn't help! The pain and the reality are still the same and my
brother is still gone. Unless you can bring him back, don't even try.
Just give me a hug and leave me alone to, once again, swallow my 'new'
reality.

I have an amazing job and my own apartment and I finally
feel like my life is moving forward as far as success is concerned.
However, I still feel like I'm at a standstill. I don't want to move
forward without my brother and yet, here I am, having to move, reluctant
step after reluctant step, forward into my future without him. Yes, I
do have my happiness a lot more, but all my happiness feels like some
sort of a cover for the clouds and the storms still raging deep within
me. Life just doesn't make sense without Ian. It's as if I cannot
force myself to fully accept that this is reality and not just some
nightmare I'll awaken from one day. I miss my brother and I'd give
anything to be able to hear his voice coaching me through life once
more... (once again, please don't give me that 'he's talking to me
through my heart or from what I learned from him in the past crap...
it's not the same and you all know it! So just... seriously, STOP) I
just want my brother. I don't want anyone's advice! I'm sick of people
giving me advice on how to still feel like my brother is around. I
hate it more than anything else! He is GONE. Stop trying to make me
feel for something that isn't really there. He's NOT there. I want him
back as he was before July 2nd, 2011. I want my flesh and blood
brother back. I want to be back to starting our real future out in
California together. I want to go back to our plans to buy my mom's
house and live close to each other! I want my kids to hear stories from
their crazy uncle Ian! I want to know what his kids would look like! I
want nieces and nephews... real, blood, nieces and nephews. I'll NEVER
have them! Marriage nieces and nephews are one thing, but I want to
grow up spoiling my brother's kids - and now I never will. To those of
you who have siblings with kids - cherish your nieces and nephews
forever. They are such an amazing blessing. For those of you who have
always been an only child - be glad. You never have to deal with
expecting to one day have amazing nieces and nephews running around and
then have that torn away from you. Nothing in life is certain and it
sucks.

I want my brother... I want my future with him back. I
want my real dreams back. The career I'm in, yes, it's part of my
dream... but all of my dreams seem pointless without my brother in
them...I hate it.

On that terrible July 2011 day...my entire life stopped making sense and it hasn't made sense since.